Change we can believe in? What Barack Obama’s presidency means for the aging field

With the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, change is in the air.

Though it has been both championed and maligned as a political slogan, change is ultimately one of the abiding principles in the universe. On the subatomic level, the particles that compose our world are in constant flux. Thus, seasons change; the weather changes; societies change economically, demographically, and ideologically, and we as individuals change as well as the environments we are embedded in.

As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously put it: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

To be human is to be governed by change.

As we have argued, in The Myth of Alzheimer’s, and on the blog, the concepts that the members of society hold, even those as seemingly static as “Alzheimer’s disease”, are also destined to change over time, and new cultural stories can emerge that help individuals lead better lives.

Obama’s rise to power — itself a culmination of changing conceptions of race in our country — is an opportunity for profound transformation not only in America, but across the world. The tone of change that Obama has set for his governance of our nation’s highest office will almost certainly have downstream effects in other areas of our lives, including the aging field.

From our vantage at Beyond The Myth, we are hopeful that an Obama administration can guide our society towards a more ecological approach to aging — one that acts comprehensively on the cultural, social, economic, and environmental determinants of human health across the continuum of our lives.

There would appear to be objective reasons to believe in the change an Obama administration could bring.

Environment: Almost assuredly, as this article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper outlines, President Obama’s environmental policy will contribute to improved wellness. We hope that the latest research on the lifelong environmental determinants of brain aging is factored in to the Obama policy.

Health care coverage: Obama has stated a goal of mandating health care coverage for all children in the United States and providing adequate coverage for millions more Americans, the benefits of which are self-evident with regards to cognitive health and wellness. Obama has put forward legislation to extend military health care coverage to those soldiers affected by traumatic brain injuries, and vowed to improve the quality of health care for our veterans.

National service: Obama has made a focus on national service a main plank of his administration, and has the gift of being able to inspire others into service. As Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times writes in his recent column, Obama’s unifying message can call people of all ages to community service, and encourage baby boomers to consider “encore careers” as public servants. The health benefits of staying active for the elderly have been well documented, and the benefits of service to society are equally formidable.

Community care: Obama began his political career as a community organizer and understands the intrinsic power of human communities to band together to solve problems. The challenges our contemporary communities face in caring for increasing numbers of persons affected by dementia are daunting. We need the next president to invest in societal infrastructure that can provide community-level care to families and individuals who are facing these challenges.

Unity: Obama burst on to the national stage in 2004 with his Democratic convention speech that called for solidarity and unity and assailed the notion of red and blue America. Similarly, Peter and I have argued against the notion that so-called “Alzheimer’s victims” are different from the rest of us, and called for a more humanistic approach to brain aging that builds solidarity with persons affected by dementia. President Obama has set a tone of change that can continue to draw attention to that which connects us, and move us past the detrimental labels of the past that have divided us — including “Alzheimer’s disease”.

From our vantage at Beyond the Myth, Obama has demonstrated the attributes of an effective leader in the 21st century — an even temperament, solid judgment, intellectual curiosity, an appreciation of nuance, and an uncanny gift for communication.

We hope that he can use his talents to help us bring about the change we need to face the vast and complex challenges of the early 21st century, amongst which is the aging of our country.

To that, as noted by Al Gore in his recent column in the NY Times, during a similarly difficult era in American history, Abraham Lincoln said, “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.”